December 2022 Farmer’s Market Streetscape Project Bid Package Designated Four Trees as Protected, with Floodlights Planned Around Each Tree.

by Don Moniak

June 17, 2023
(updated June 18, 2023: correction; only three of the original trees remain, and the cited Permit Plan is dated 10/19/22, and contained in bid package dated 12/8/22)

In November 2022, the City of Aiken held a pre-bid meeting for prospective contractors seeking the $1.5 to $2.0 million Williamsburg Street/Farmer’s Market Streetscape project. The bid package dated December 8, 2022, included a “Tree Protection Plan” that would leave four residual trees out of the twelve on the block. The “Landscape Lighting Plan” indicates floodlights were planned to illuminate the four residual trees.

On May 30-31, 2023–the first two days of the project—eight trees were cut and removed, and three remained. The City of Aiken has yet to provide any updated plans or project change orders in support of its position that the felling of the eight trees was a mistake due to a mixup in project plans.

The Cutting and the City Council Meeting.

The nearly $2 million Williamsburg Street steetscape project surrounding the Aiken Farmer’s Market began on May 30, 2023. By May 31st, three-quarters of the trees in the Williamsburg Street Parkway had either been cut or were in the process of being removed. Two of the three remaining were heavily pruned.

In all, nine trees of varying age and size around Aiken’s Farmer’s Market were felled. Five were towering, dominant, veteran trees with wide spreading crowns that shaded the market area; and three were vigorous younger trees. Two of the three that are left are the most likely to drop branches or fall onto the market place, and both had lower crown ratios than the nine that were cut.

The heavy handed removal in a “Tree City USA” provoked a substantial uproar. The controversy was significant enough to be addressed at the next City Council meeting on Monday, June 12, 2023.

The issue was adressed before the first “public comments on non-agenda items,” The official responses included; “this should not have happened.” and “I want to echo the apology that this should not have happened.” (1)

Later in the meeting, during the second “public comments on non-agenda items,” (2) Aiken resident Valerie Wrobel’s persistent questioning flushed out more information. The official response in regard to fault was:

“It is not the contractor they followed the plans that the city gave them that should not have been given to them. The old set of plans were a set of plans that should not have been given to the contractor.”

Neither the old nor new set of plans that were referenced were publicly disclosed. The City of Aiken’s website contains no information about the final plans. Cranston Engineering, the contract project designer, was tasked with completing both a conceptual design and a final design. Neither is available on the city’s website.

The Bid Package

On November 17, 2022, the City of Aiken held a pre-bid meeting with five prospective contractors. Petersburg, Virginia based Quality “Plus”Services was awarded the contract on February 15, 2023, for $1,483,865.55. The company’s website states it “provides engineering, construction, mechanical, electrical and maintenance services for all major industrial sectors throughout the United States.”

On April 10, 2023, City Council approved allocating $400,000 of Savannah River Site plutonium settlement funds to the Farmer’s Market Streetscape Project.” The reason given was “the bids came in well over budget.” The final cost was not reported.

The final Engineering and Utilities bid package, contained in the City of Aiken’s document repository, is dated December 8, 2022 and includes a 29-page “Permit Plan for Williamsburg Street Streetscape.” The Permit Plan was dated October 19, 2022.

Within the Permit Plan, “Existing conditions and Demolition Plan” (page 4) documented twelve trees of varying age and size in or around the Parkway. (3). Note #4 mandated that tree protection be installed around “ existing trees,” and referenced a “Tree Protection Plan.”

The “Landscape Layout Plan” (Page 20) has a small note stating “TREE TO BE PRESERVED. QUANTITY 4 TOTAL IN PROJECT,” and again referenced a “Tree Protection Plan.”

The “Tree Protection Plan” is part of the “Landscape Enlargement Plans.” (page 22). The document indicates four residual trees (below). Three of these are featured in before and after photos taken after the cutting; three large oak trees, including the largest White Oak on the block. An unidentified hardwood was also a leave tree, but it ultimately was also cut.

Preceding the landscape plans is the “Landscape Lighting Plan” (page 19) showing four LED outdoor floodlights circling each residual tree. Lighting Plan Note #8 requires that the best locations be found to “illuminate tree canopy from four sides.”

That was the plan as of December 8, 2022, for the existing trees (3) surrounding the Aiken Farmer’s Market set amidst one of the most visited of Aiken’s forested parkways. Whether a project change order was completed between December 8, 2022 and May 30, 2023, is unknown.

Answering Questions

If a project change order was issued, or the project design otherwise changed prior to the start of work, the City of Aiken should publicly disclose the final project design documents (4), especially any updated “Tree Protection Plan.”

The City could also describe what went wrong in the contract administration process that involves close cooperation between the city’s engineering department and the contractor. (5)

Finally, the City of Aiken could ask if a public review process that included at least one public hearing might have prevented the major alteration of the Farmer’s Market tree scape and the subsequent apologies from city officials. This was an Aiken Municipal Development Commission project, and therefore required a public hearing and a legal redevelopment plan.

Footnotes

(1) Transcripts and links to video for the June 12th meeting are in Changes in Urban Forest Conditions.

(2) The first days of the open public comment portions of city council meetings are described in Aiken City Council Reimplements Citizen Input Rules. Probable reductions in citizen input rules are reported in “Order of Citizen Council Agenda.”

(3) The Planned Future Landscape.

The landscape plans do show the desired future tree scape, as well as the location of various shrubs. The plans call for 73 trees to be planted in the 2.3 acre project area, of which 47 are oak species. Ten of the trees are Serviceberries, which is more of a large shrub than a tree.

The plan also calls for 720 “shrubs” to be planted in tight clusters, with nearly half being Carissa Hollies (255) and Lorapetulam. Close to a third of the shrub list are perennial grasses and other herbaceous flowering plants.

(4). Cranston Engineering of Augusta conducted conceptual design and final design of the project at a cost of just over $90,000. The Conceptual Design and and Final Design have been requested. 

To date, that request has yielded only one page—-the “Existing Conditions and Demolition Plan” contained in the December 2022 Permit Plan. Any updated “Tree Protection Plan” has yet to be disclosed.

(5) The “Instructions to Bidders and Special Provisions/‘” section of the bid package contains numerous standard contract administration requirements that are designed to avoid mistakes by placing equivalent responsibilities on both the contractor and the city. Both sides are to check each other throughout the process. There is no provision for the city’s Arborist or contract Arborist to assist with inspections.

Part 19 of the bid package references “Working Drawings,” and states, in part:

“Working drawings shall consist of those detail drawings which may be required for prosecution of the work, but which are not included in the Contract Drawings. Six copies of all necessary working drawings shall be submitted by the Contractor to the Engineer for review; three copies shall be returned to the Contractor unless additional copies are included in the submittal.”

Two provisions follow:

(a) Check by Contractor: The Contractor shall check all working drawings for accuracy of dimensions and details, and for conformance with Contract Drawings and Specifications before submitting working drawings to the Engineer for review. The Contractor shall indicate that working drawings have been checked by affixing an appropriate stamp or notation on the face of the working drawings. Deviations from the Plans and Specifications shall be clearly and specifically called to the Engineer’s attention in a written statement accompanying the drawings.

(b) Responsibility for Accuracy: Review by the Engineer of the Contractor’s working drawings shall not relieve the Contractor of responsibility for accuracy of dimensions and details. The Contractor shall be responsible for agreement and conformity of working drawings with the Contract Drawings and Specifications.

Item #20, “Cooperation of Contractor” states

“ The Contractor will be supplied with five (5) copies of the Drawings and Specifications. The Contractor shall have available on the work, at all times, one (1) copy of the Drawings and Specifications. He shall give the work the constant attention necessary to facilitate the progress thereof, and shall cooperate with the Engineer and other contractors in every way possible.”

Items #22 and #23 provide the requirements of inspectors

22. Authority and Duties of Inspector: Inspectors shall be authorized to inspect all work done and all materials furnished, including preparation, fabrication, and manufacture of the materials to be used. The inspector shall not be authorized to alter or waive requirements of the Drawings and Specifications. He shall call the attention of the Contractor to failure of the work and/or materials to conform to the Drawings and Specifications. He may reject materials or suspend work until questions at issue can be refereed to, and be decided by the Engineer. The presence of the Inspector shall in no way lessen the responsibility of the Contractor.

23. Inspection: The Contractor shall furnish the Engineer with every reasonable facility for ascertaining whether or not the work performed and materials used are in accordance with the requirements and intent of the Specifications and Drawings. No work shall be done or materials used without suitable supervision or inspection by the Engineer or his representative. Failure to reject defective work and materials shall neither, in any way, prevent later rejection when those defects are discovered, nor obligate the Owner to any final acceptance.

Item #25 pertains to making corrections in the case of unclear drawings:

Corrections: Should any portion of the Drawings and Specifications be obscure or in dispute, they shall be referred to the Engineer, and he shall decide as to the true meaning and intent. He shall also have the right to correct errors and omissions at any time when those corrections are necessary for the proper fulfillment of the Drawings and Specifications.